Alloy of the precious metals and method of increasing hardness of such alloy.



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No Drawing. Original application'flled May, 6, i810, Serial No.-'559,65G." Divided"and this applicatioii filled ,April25,1911.,-. Seria1No. 623,214M .1 I

aim 55m alloys so, employed and containing present it known that Aueos'rnl. Rossr, a

citien of the United States, and-a resident of "Niagara Falls, in :the county of Niagara it and State of New York, haveinvented certain newand useful Improvements m A-lloys, of the Precious Metals and Methods of In.

creasing Hardness of. Such Alloys, of: which the, following is a specification My. present application for patent is a div1s1on,of my previous application, *Serial umb rtsaese, filedMay e, 1910.

present invention relates to the hard alloys including particularly in coinage, jewelry' and the like,-

emng of such such as used and has 5 f0r its objec -p mg Q- S conventional proportions of copper,-- such novel increased hardness ,asfzwill enable themto better resist frictional wear: to which they may be subjected. V Y

As well understood,'the l' cious'met'al's, z. 6., gold and silver, are in erently so soft as to lose important proportions of their weight by the wear to which subjected whenthl rlike, It.

employed in coins,,,jewe l has therefore from 'time immemjorial "been the practice to alloy for such -uses ,one-oii-the said precious metals with varlous proportions of a harder metal, as copper,- the gold and silver coinage of most countries being correspondingly debased by intentional additions of copper varying from 9 to 10% or thereabout, and the said alloys intended for commerical uses and commonly known as sterling gold, or sterling silver containing as high as 25% of copper. Notwithstanding these admixtures of the baser metal, the resulting coinage, money, bars, jewelry, etc., are still nevertheless subject to important undesired losses from frlction and wear in use, and the object of my present invention is to provide means for preventing such losses and the production of articles comparatively not subject thereto. 1 have discovered that if to either of the said precious metals, while molten, there be added the present usual conventional proportions of a copper previously 1purified by titanium, as per Letters Patent 0. 905,232, granted to me December 1, 1908, or allo ed with titanium as per Letters Patent 0.

935,863, granted a; "me ocmtr" '5, fiat;

there be added to such precious mearynsa 1 melted together with the desired, per cent,

of previously' unpurified oi" unalloyed c p; :per, a small amount of titanium,' on'of my mammals; 1 91b, 1.,

said alloy ofcopp'er withtitaniu m, thefinalj resulting alloy of said precious metal with copper will besohardened as to substana tiallyresist, without'loss of weight, substantially all wear incident to ordinary. "usage My inventionmay be practiced as follows? The copper intended for use in hardenin the,

precious metal whether gold or silver as a oref.

said is first melted and to'themoltenj bath thereof "is added and melted therewith-some of'my alloy or compound of copper andft-ita nium for which reis sued"Letter s Patent No; "1 12,764: were on March 17-"; 1908 granted to me,

theainount of said'alloy 30 added being .prefilyaifp p oned' tatn u t e, h;

the ,presence of "suflioient metallic titanium:

to combine with 'ff'u'ndesired' elements and: com ounds present I andleave a' final; copper; not containing substantially no 'titani-' eum, or, if desired, not to exceed 1%;of tita niumas per my :said Letters -Pafent =905, 232.'-"' The i. resulting purified copper product'is then added to a bath of the molten pro precious metal, 2'. e. gold or silver as the case may be, and in such proportion as to secure in the final product or alloy the desired proportion of copper,.. The said resulting final product, being analloy of gold or silver with copper, should contain not to exceed traces 0 titanium and will-therefore be of substantially the same purity as formerly required for coinage and commercial uses aforesaid, but its resistance to abrasion will be found much greater than that of a' correspondingalloy to which, or its constituents, theftitanium has notbeen added. It will be obvious that substantially the same results may be attained by adding to a bath of either molten gold or molten silyer a certain amount of copper not previously treated with titanium as aforesald and then also adding sufficient of my said alloy of copper and titanium, containing a sufficient percentage of titanium, to impart to the bath as a whole enough metallic titanium to combine with-all undesired elements and compounds present in said bath and leave in the final product thereof substantially no titanium. I am satisfied that notwithstanding usually accepted comparative purity of the precious m'etalsgold and silver, these nevertheless do contain in their usual commercial undesired impurities and .compounds, which tend to impart to the mass undesirable susceptibility to abrasion and wear. Such im purities are, I believe, beneficially affected or removed through'the action of the titanium' when added as last abovementioned, and I therefore suggest that whenever analysis orother test discloses such impurities, care be taken to proportion the titanium added so as to insure its action thereon as well "as on undesired elements, compounds and impurities imported into the bath by the copper thereto added.

It will be understood that where the presence ofsome titanium per .96 may be unobjectionable, as for .uses other than coinage,

the titanium introducedmay be so proportioned as to leave in the.,final'product a decided percentage of titanium, say up to 1%, or thereabout, whereby in some instances greater resistance to abrasion may be imparted than when the titanium has been proportioned to, leave only; traces, .or substantially no titanium in thefinal product.

It .will be understood that my invention asherein claimed is limited to methods of treatmentgof the precious 'metal'sint which the titanium employed is of such proportion as to leave'in the resulting final product more than traces of titanium.

of co per with titanium.

. .What I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following, viz

1. As a new article, a metallic substance :10 composed principally of silver and a harder metal therewith alloyed, and containing also titanium. condition as raw materials more or less of 2. As a new article, a' metallic substance composed. princi ally of silver and copper therewithalloye and containing also titanium.

3. The metallurgical method which comprises bringing together in molten state a precious metal, a harder metal, and ,tita- 1111111]. p

4. The metallurgical method which comprises bringing together in molten'state'silver, a harder metal, and titanium. I

5. The metallurgical method which comprises bringing together in molten state silver, copper, andtitanium.

6. The methodfof producingan alloy of silver witha harder metal which comprises bringing together in molten state'silver and 60 an alloyof'said harder metal with titanium.

7. The method of producing an alloy of silver with copper which comprises bringing together inmolten state silver and'an alloy v 8. S a new article a' metallic substance composed principally of aprecious metal, a harder metal therewith alloyed, and some titanium. I AUGUSTE J. ROSSI. Witnesses p EDMONDS,

G. G. MEASURES.

'Copies' of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by add i'es sing the Goinmissioiierot Patents. 

